Stolen Memories
by Tux Writer
Summary: Danny sets out on a road trip to the hometown of a missing young woman. The FBI computer network is down. Martin goes to Corpus Christi. Danny steps out of his normal element and must solve more than a missing person case.
1. Preface & Prologue

- Preface -

"_**Stolen Memories"**_

By Tux Writer

Dedicated to my child, who loves to write stories.

This is a work of fiction. Some names, characters, places, are from the CBS show "_Without a Trace"._ Other names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establish­ments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

- Prologue -

Pamela had just finished up a late shift at the hospital where she worked as a nurse in the Emergency room. She was so happy that her husband, Jerry, a five year veteran on the Albany police department, had agreed to meet her and walk home with her. They lived in a nice studio apartment only six blocks away. They were going to stop at the local Starbucks for cups of decaf and maybe a muffin. Pamela's coworkers had already headed for the coffee shop, as they often did after a stressful shift. Starbucks was only a couple of blocks away. They had decided instead of walking all the way around the block they would shave some time off their stroll by taking the alley. Hopefully they would arrive at about the same time and not be stuck with the seats next to the door.

They were holding hands and chatting softly when Jerry accidentally kicked a can. Pamela jumped and said while laughing, "man that nearly scared the living daylights out of me." Another block to go. In a distance they heard a vehicle speed away. Pamela thought, this was not all that unusual for the big city.

As they entered the next block Pamela let out a loud shriek but quickly came to her senses and instinct took over. Jerry's blood pressure started to rise. There before them lying on the ground was a woman in a pool of blood. In the shadows they saw a man sitting, rocking slowly, holding his head, a bloody iron pipe at his feet, saying in an almost whisper, "what have I done". Jerry un-holstered the gun he carried on the small of his back while off duty and swiftly moved toward the man. Pamela rushed toward the woman and took out her cell phone and dialed 911 with one hand and checked for a pulse with the other.

Jerry and Pamela were each in their element.


	2. Who Am I

- Who am I -

"_Easy now",_ the man thought to himself as he sat up in bed. His head was pounding like a hundred jackhammers burrowing through solid concrete; except for the concrete was his brain. "_Ouch!"_ He felt dizzy.

The thought occurred to him. A cup of coffee was what he needed to jump start his day and pull him out of his grogginess.

As he started to get out of bed, he was startled. There was no floor! _"I must still be dreaming"_. He yawned and tried to rub the sleep burgers from his eyes. _"No this is not a dream … what the…?"_

He was careful not to move as he allowed the sleep to clear a little bit more from his eyes. He saw that the floor was actually there but he was not in his own bed but on the top of a bunk bed.

Well awake now, he didn't recognize where he was. His rear-end felt sore. Feeling around the mattress, the bed seemed to be a three inch thick piece of mushy plastic loosely covered with an ill fitted sheet that was pulling away from the corners. His pillow looked as if it were a simple pillow case with some clothes stuffed in it. No wonder he had the headache.

"_What is this place?_" rubbing his neck.

He climbed down at the foot of the bed. In the dim light he was careful not to miss the steps which were not really steps at all, but part of the bed.

"Hello" he called to see if some-one was there.

"Shut up you moron, some of us are trying to sleep!" someone shouted angrily from somewhere in the room. After the sound of a machine gun fart, there was total silence.

He spotted a toilet in the corner.

He really needed to pee, so he decided to check out the toilet a little closer.

As he neared he saw that the thing was the strangest toilet he had ever seen. It was stainless steel with something that resembled a sink on the top.

Was he on a submarine?

He decided to use the john – trying to ease his mind a bit, he smiled and thought - _probably not, but if I'm sleep walking I hope I'm not about to pee in my closet_. Right before he started to go he thought it odd that there was no door. Suddenly, a shadow moved out of the corner of his eye.

He pursued the blurred image.

There was a door with a window. He turned the handle. It didn't move. He stepped back and looked around. His eyes had fully adjusted to the dim light. There were three brick walls and one with windows. The room was filled with steel bunk beds. His head once again started pounding. The room started spinning. He collapsed to the hard concrete floor and the last thing he remembered was staring up at a twenty foot ceiling while wondering again if this were a dream or not.


	3. Working Alone

- Working Alone -

"Hello …no this is Danny Taylor, can I help you? … Sorry, Martin isn't here right now. … Can I please ask who's calling? … Oh yeah I remember you. Martin is away in Corpus Christi for a couple weeks. He should be back in town next weekend. Ok thanks I'll leave a note on his desk for him to give you a call." Danny hung up the phone.

Looking at his wristwatch it was closing in on three o'clock in the afternoon. "_Lucky butthead,_ _I sure wish that I could get away for a few"_. To himself he muttered, "I wonder what Martin is up to now? Is he on Mustang or Padre Island enjoying the sun? Oh well. Some people just get it all."

He could still remember Martin as he stopped by the office on his way out of town to show off his new toy; a 2007 Kiwi Metallic Green four wheel drive Honda Element. He remembered him as he waved goodbye through the skylight. He promised Danny that he would give him a ride when he got back.

Smiling he returned to reading the case file before him with great interest. A young woman had not been seen for couple days and thus was reported as a possible missing person by some friends. He was getting tired because he had been reading for what seemed like hours with the constant interruption of the phone. He thought a couple of times about ripping the thing from the desk and heaving it out the window.

The packet of information had been sent overnight via Fed Ex from the Albany office. The nationwide _Federal Law Enforcement Information Portal_, also known as FLAP was down. This was a bad deal since it was the new means nationwide of checking all fingerprints, mug shots of known criminals and other pertinent information that was needed to assist is solving any case by law enforcement. That was solve them quickly. Due to an error by the designing/consulting firm there was no backup system in place and all former databases were currently gone. A team was working at restoring the backups of the massive databases. Danny wondered_, "is_ _way too much trusted to technology"._ Crimes had to be solved the old fashioned way.

The files had been sent because the woman, Kerri Rowan _lived_ in New York. She was a transplant from a small town outside Albany New York.

The file included here class picture, her high school transcript, all the towns that she was known to have lived in, job history and a handful of other pieces of information. She had been a straight "A" student.

"_Why did she come to the big city of New York?"_

"_What did she get mixed up with?"_

It just didn't make sense.

The file contained a number for her mother in Ever Falls, New York.

Picking up the phone he dialed. It rang four times and the answering machine picked up.

After hanging up and waiting for a minute or two, he redialed the number. Again no answer.

"_Road trip."_

Walking for the door he was glad to get out of the office for a while. He had been asked to spend some time working at his desk since Martin was out of town.

Jack was on a vacation with his wife and kids so he left a note on Vivian's desk.

He stopped at the coffee machine for a cup of java for the road. The coffee poured with the same consistency of snot from a spittoon. It was pitch black and smelled burnt. He wondered if he needed a pair of scissors to cut the flow of sludge. It would either keep him awake from the caffeine. If not it would be from throwing up.


	4. The Road Trip

- The Road Trip -

Danny drove directly to his apartment. After sifting through the mail, most were bills that he didn't even bother to open.

Since he had never been to Ever Falls before, let alone ever heard of it, one of the first things he did was sit down at his computer and to Google Ever Falls, New York. As the web site loaded he wondered, "_I think this is the town where that one Astronaut was from … maybe not"._

The web site revealed a quaint little town that was actually known as Ever Falls Village that was located on Orzawamick Creek. Its former name was Shepherd Hill, most likely called that because it once was a wool center. Early textile factories made underwear, woolens, shirts and hosiery. The town was established in 1862 but was occupied earlier in about 1602. One of the striking features to note would be "Ever Falls" water fall that once was used to power the milling equipment. Immersed in his research we was amazed at the number of businesses were located in the small town.

Going back to the Google main page he selected the "Maps" tabs page and entered his address and the address for Ever Falls to obtain driving instructions. The trip would take him about three hours. The town was located 40 miles from Albany.

Since Ever Falls did not have motel, bed and breakfast or other place to stay, Danny made reservations at Haltin Inn in the nearby town of East Durbor. It was about 25 miles away. He made sure to asked for the government rate and had them bill the room directly to his FBI expense account.

He began to fill a travel duffle with clothing for the trip. Since it was a small town that he was visiting and he didn't want to spook anyone, he decided to wear jeans and polo shirts for most of the duration of his investigation. He packed miscellaneous toiletry items in a second bag. He was about to head for the door but then went back to his room and placed two blue suits, a couple of white shirts and his signature blue ties in a suit bag. It didn't take long to pick these out since his closet had six of the suits and five of the ties. They were all the same. "_It sure made it easier to get ready in the mornings"._

He was now on the road in a 2006 Chevrolet Equinox LT AWD he had rented from Steffers Car Rentals. The rental guy had said the color was Sandstone Metallic. He could have driven his black Hummer but, like the suit, didn't want to spook anyone in the small town. He wandered to himself if he liked the color as well as Martin's new ride.

The traffic didn't seem that bad on the road in fact, the driving was pretty enjoyable. He just sat back with her on cruise, watched the GPS mounted on the dash to make sure he didn't get off route. "_I bet Martin didn't have one of these!" _With Martin on his mind he decided to give him a quick call and see how he was doing. The phone rang about five times. Martin's voicemail picked up. Danny hung up without leaving a message. He would try again later.

He gassed up the SUV at an East Dubor convenience shop and grabbed a ham salad sandwich and a Socks Root Beer. It was now about nine thirty. Getting out of town had taken him longer that he had anticipated. He checked in to the motel, took a hot and restful shower and hit the bed.


	5. The Cat

- The Cat -

In the apartment, the fat cat sat on the back of the sofa looking through the window at a robin perched in a nearby tree. Thoughtfully, it imagined sinking its teeth into the feathery friend.

Though he missed Martin, it wasn't much. Like most cats, it was his apartment and it was with the kindness of his heart that he allowed his master to live there. He only let Martin think he were in charge. Garfield would have been proud.

Just then, from the pocket of Martin's Standard dark blue suit pocket, at the other end of the couch, was the sound of a cell phone. The cat was not about to answer it so, he merely jumped down and waddled his plump body to the bedroom for a nap.


	6. The Infirmary

- The Infirmary –

The man awoke in a much cozier bed than he had been in what seemed like only a few seconds ago. It's always a really weird feeling when you seem to wake up the second your head hits the pillow and your alarm clock is going off because it's been eight hours. The clock on the wall said it was four o'clock. He had no idea if that were AM or PM, he had no easy way of telling. If there had been windows, he could have judged by the sunlight.

He still had no idea who or where he was. The last thing he remembered was the strange dream about being in the room with bunk beds and the locked door.

He sat up in bed and was happy that his head felt much better. As he looked around he could see he was in a room again with many beds. Lots of people were lying in the beds and most seemed really sick and coughing. There were a half dozen people going from bed to bed checking on all the guests. These were no doubt medical staff.

"You sure had everyone worried Deadman." A voice mumbled.

He turned to see a sickly man in the next bed who had striking blue eyes and leathered skin who was leaning up with one arm beneath him coughing. He coughed a bit. The sick man was about 50 to 55 years old.

"Hmmm?" Deadman said with a lost look on his face.

"I'm Crowbar." He grunted. "So you are the dead man that they brought in the other night."

"I guess. I don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about. Where am I anyway?"

Crowbar chuckled and hissed, "Deadman … blood on your hands … Deadman …you're in a mess of trouble." His raspy laughter quickly turned into a moan. In great pain, he grabbed his stomach and slumped back down prompting the medical staff to render aid.

One paused at Deadman's bed, "Looks like you're ready to back to your mod. We wanted to keep you longer but this outbreak of the flu has us full up and you don't have the flu. The doc said it was just a slight concussion from a nasty blow to the lower part of your scull. You'll be alright if you take it easy. I guess you're probably ready to head b …"

"Victor, give me a hand over here!"

The old man began to cough as if he were up-chucking half a lung. As he sat up, Victor arrived just in time to catch a forceful flow of barf exiting Crowbar with an awaiting trash can.

Deadman's heart missed a beat. _"The dream is not a dream._" He saw the back of Crowbars clothing. Printed across the back, written in clear black letters was "Albany County Jail".


	7. In Ever Falls

- In Ever Falls -

Danny got up early and made the 27 mile trip over to Ever Falls. It was a gloomy cloudy day. I looked as if it were going to rain any moment. It took him about 45 minutes. He wished that there were a motel in Ever Falls.

At the edge of town in the distance were many new very large and expensive looking homes mixed with ones still under construction. _There must be a housing boom. _As he traveled closer into the town there were rows of older bungalows with finely groomed yards. Reaching the business district, the buildings were mostly ones of antiquity, each a testimonial of the past. This was a tight nit town that looked like it would welcome newcomers.

Deciding that he was very hungry he parked in front of Cargonias Café. The café was small but very cozy and welcoming. There were only tables, no booths and each was covered with a red cloth red and white checkered table cloth.

After the old woman at the front counter seated him and gave him a menu, a young short haired striking waitress named Gina, brought him a glass of water and took his order.

The food was very good. He ate while reading the _Albany Times Union_ newspaper. The front page headlined a story titled, "Local Flu Outbreak - Isolated in the County Jail". Another interesting story examined the soaring rate of unwed pregnancy. On the back page of the front page he saw a small story about a "Man with Amnesia Arrested", The first line read, "With the Federal Law Enforcement Information Portal still down, there is no way to get a positive…". He paused, "_All this technology and when it shuts down, where are we? Still is society really better because of it?_ "

Gina pulled him from his thoughts when she brought his ticket. "Can I get you anything else?"

"No, I'm good, thanks. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure" she replied.

Quietly showing his FBI credentials, "Do you know a Kerri Rowan?"

Just then her cell phone rang; she turned away and quietly said "Hi Kevin", she waited a moment, listening and then "I need to talk to you." As she was ending the call she turned back and accidentally knocked over Danny's half filled coffee cup.

Gina's soft brown eyes filled with tears and she immediately darted for the kitchen.

The woman at the front counter rushed over to Danny with a handful of paper napkins saying she was so sorry and that the breakfast was on the house.

"It's really not problem. It's just a splatter. Accidents happen".

He paid and headed to his car. "_Was she crying because of the cup of coffee or the phone call? I wonder if the phone call from Kevin was about her being pregnant?" _He smiled and thought of the article he had just seen.

He got into the SUV, took out his cell phone and dialed Kerri's mother, Sallie Rowan. He was looking out across the parking lot and saw Gina get into a late 80's light blue Toyota Camry.

There was no answer on the phone.

_I guess I need to go and visit Mrs. Rowan, if I can figure out where she lives. I guess I need to find the local police headquarters to announce my presence. That is if such a small town even has a police department._

It started to rain.


	8. The Mod

- The Mod -

As Deadman entered the jail module with the transfer guard things became very quiet. It was like a horror movie when the monster was in the forest a ways away and all the birds became quiet. Then there were sounds of whispers and someone whistled. Men were sitting in small groups around lunch tables.

The jail module seemed pretty empty. "_Must be the flu thing."_

The Mod guard demanded that Deadman make like a birdie. He spread eagled his legs and held his arms out at his sides. After putting on what looked like motocross gloves and quickly patted him down. Deadman thought to himself, "_What could I possibly pick up between here and the Infirmary? What a jerk!"_

The guard then said snottily, "If you still need to rest a bit then you can go to your room and lie on your bunk."

Deadman replied, "And where exactly is that? Why am I in--"

He was sharply cut off mid sentence by the guard, "Well then I guess you'll just have to figure that out, sweetheart!"

The guard turned back to the transfer guard and took a paper bundle, then turned away and went to a guard station on the side of the room. On the paperwork Deadman was reported as John Doe since he couldn't be identified because FLAP was down.

Deadman stood there a moment until a small man, who looked as if he had been there a while, walked up and greeted him by saying, "Hi, I'll show you too your room."

Looking around, Deadman was in a large square room with a high ceiling of about 30 feet. There were windows lining the top of the mod on two sides. There was a door also on the window side with a basketball goal. Along the top was a flat fencing material that allowed the sun to shine in. Across from the windows and basketball court was a set of stairs also surrounded by the same fencing material. On this side of the room, the wall was split into two levels. The upper was covered with more of the fencing material. There were eight rooms total. Four on each level divided by the stairs.

"Who are you?" Deadman asked the little man without looking.

"My name is Murphy. Most people call me Murf though."

"Man, between you and me, I am scared to death."

"You'll be alright."

They moved to the stairs. At the top Deadman saw that in each of the rooms was four sets of bunk beads.

Murphy pointed to the left end room and said, "Your room is there. It's the second bed from the far wall, on the top."

Deadman said softly, "Thanks for being so kind."

"I'm going back down to the day room." Murf descended the stairs and started reading a newspaper at one of the many lunchroom tables that were bolted to the floor.

Deadman crawled up on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. He thought to himself, "_Who am I? Why am I here? I am so frightened!"_

Later when they called that dinner was ready, he had no appetite so he took a chance at simply staying on his bunk. The guard called, "Last call for dinner, gentlemen."

After dinner, five other prisoners shuffled into the room each wearing a green jumpsuit, a white tee shirt underneath, and mismatched socks that hung out around their red sandals.

Still lying in his bunk, he caught site of a guard walking outside the glass of the room probably counting heads, checking for suicides. They did this every fifteen minutes. He thought "_This is what I saw the other night."_

At about 10 P.M. he heard some talking and movement from the day room below. He heard a buzzer sound and a click of the room door unlocking, no doubt by remote. In walked Crowbar.

As he thought of the prisoners clothing, "_I wonder whose underwear I'm wearing?"_


	9. Police Headquarters

- Police Department -

When Danny arrived at the police headquarters, at the corner of Main Street and Church Street, he parked his vehicle next to a police car. He walked to the door braving the falling rain. The door was locked so he went back to his vehicle.

He turned the ignition and started to back out of his parking spot. Just then a minivan pulled up alongside. A man hopped out with a laptop bag and headed for the door.

Danny rolled down the window and tried to be helpful, "Sorry the door is locked."

The guy looked over his shoulder, "Its ok I have a key."

The guy, who looked very young, waved for Danny to follow and come inside.

The guy turned the lights on and introduced himself as Tommy Greg. He went into a back room, opposite of the glassed office. Danny followed.

Inside Danny took note of a main room with a few file cabinets by two desks. On one side of the building there was a glassed-in room with a desk. On the desk he could make out the name plate: Paul Garner, Police Chief. Just then the phone rang drawing Danny's eyes over to a table in the back of the room. The man made no move to answer it. Danny saw a fax machine that was spitting out printed sheets. They fell to the "in" tray below that was already about to overflow. I hadn't been cleared for quite sometime.

In the computer room a computer with a sticker said SuSE Linux server. Tommy logged in and his fingers started flying 90 miles an hour.

As the man worked, Danny made a bit of small talk about the weather, how big the town was and about the crime rate.

Tommy gave very uninformative answers. Danny thought, "_no matter how good the computer system was, this officer seems to be lost in space somewhere. This guy didn't know a whole lot about the town. No wonder he didn't carry a gun. I am surprised his name isn't Barney Fife."_

Danny then asked, "Are you working at restoring FLAP to the office?"

The guy looked puzzled, "Restoring what?"

Danny explained thinking that the guy was new.

"I've heard of that. This is a small town so I guess that system isn't really needed."

"Well, can you please stop working on that thing for a moment? I need your help." Danny asked getting a bit impatient.

Tommy answered, "I guess I can try to help."

Danny informed the man that he was in town on a FBI investigation of a missing person, Kerri Rowan. She had lived in New York but was originally from Ever Falls. Showing his FBI badge and ID, he asked, "Do you have any information on her?"

"Oh" Tommy said, "I'm just the Computer Tech from out of Albany. Handing Danny a card, my company sent me over to service the server. From the looks of the log files I don't think anyone has even logged in since the last time I was here three months ago."

Tommy rambled on for a moment and then finally said, "On your missing person, if you need help with that, you'll have to talk to the chief at the job site. I met him out there earlier. How do you think I got the key?"

"Wait a minute, you've lost me. Job site?"

"Like I said, this is a small town, with a part time police department. If anyone can help you it would be Chief of Police, Paul Garner. He also has a construction company. He's on a job out of town a ways on North Maple Avenue. You'll see the sign out front."

As Danny said goodbye and was on his way, he was thinking to himself, "_You gotta be kidding."_


	10. Slop and Showers

- Slop and Showers -

Deadman woke up a little bit before it was time to eat breakfast. He still, after six days, could not remember who he was. On the bright side, he knew enough to know that he really shouldn't be there.

Deadman spent a lot of time with Crowbar. He had taken him under his wing and helped him to make sure and know how to follow the rules. Deadman was grateful of this because he was still very horrified.

He spoke often to the other inmates, some frightened, some very scary. Every time he said he was innocent, Crowbar would laugh and say that everyone in the place was innocent. He was in the midst of child molesters, drug offenders and a guy who was giving physicals door to door. He finally found out why he was there; Murder. He was positive that he didn't do it, but had to stay in here pending his hearing. Using the phone was a possibility but without a memory, there was no one to call. Deadmen hoped he would remember and have someone help him get out of this nasty place. He learned they called him Deadman because, once upon a time, murder meant the death penalty. New York no longer had the death penalty, but the name had stuck.

The food was the worst that he had ever tasted in his life. At least that part of his memory still worked. Some of the food items over the past few days was gooey oatmeal with no milk or sugar. Toast so dry and hard that you could file your fingernails with it. Hotdogs that were cold and hard on one end. Cake that had no taste and has the thinnest icing on the top. The craziest thing was that some of the inmates would go from table to table trying to trade all the types of food. Sometimes, when something was not eaten, ones would pick through it on the trays that were stacked for return to the dungeon where this stuff had to be prepared. Some of this was eaten and the rest was placed in a variety of containers so it could be eaten in the rooms later. The rule book that every prisoner was given said this was not allowed, but the guards didn't mind. He was amazed that there were actually some fat prisoners. Deadman had not been hungry, but knew he should eat something, no matter how bad, to keep his body going.

Earlier in the day, everyone was to go for exercise. Everybody had to go but was not forced to excercise. A couple of transfer guards came and took the entire group to the prison gymnasium. Some stripped down to their boxers, sported some white shorts from a basket and selected some shabby tennis shoes from a pile on the floor. Deadman didn't want to play basketball so he started walking around the perimeter of the gym, thinking to himself.

About halfway through his walk, Murf joined him. He said, so only Deadman could hear, "You best watch out for Crowbar! Some things aren't what they seem."

Deadman looked in the direction of the bleachers on the side where about a dozen inmates sat watching the basketball game. When he caught site of Crowbar, he was glaring at him with the piercing blue eyes. With a chill slipping up his spine, he thought to himself, "_it seems that I have seen that man somewhere before."_

When they got back to the mod, Deadman asked the guard for a bar of soap to shower. He hoped that the water would be the right temperature and not one extreme or the other. The showers were divided into individual stalls, but no curtains. A frosted plastic door separated the showers and the day room. He hung his stuff on one of the hooks along a dry wall and began his shower.

A couple of the child molesters walked in and went to the back stalls. He took the fastest shower that he had ever taken in his life. It was amazing how fast you could go when you needed to. "_Crap_" he thought as he dropped his soap. After thinking for a moment, instead of picking it up he quickly rinsed, put on the same clothes that he wore in and headed back out to the dayroom, hair still wet and sticking straight up in the air.


	11. Contract Chief

- Contract Chief -

Danny drove north on Maple Street Avenue. The rain was still falling and the wipers were having a hard time keeping up.

He almost missed it as he drove past about a dozen very new and elaborate houses. Back into a lightly forested area was the frame of a house under construction. Fortunately, with the pounding rain, it a roof on it. Skilled Laborers were working to quickly get a layer of Tyvek house wrap on the structure so they could start installing the siding. "_What a wet job,"_ he thought.

Pulling into the driveway, his vehicle slid and slipped its way down the slight hill and parked by a row of various sub-contractor trucks and vans.

Getting drenched in the rain, he asked one of the workers where he could find Mr. Paul Garner and the guy pointed toward a trailer in the back of the house. "_Great," _Danny thought, "_now I'm about to get mud caked on my new Merrell's. I just bought these shoes and the first time I get to wear them …."_

Trudging up to the trailer, he knocked. Nothing. He knocked again a little bit louder. A man angrily opened the door and said loudly, "I told you it was open and to come in."

Slightly embarrassed, he apologized to Danny and handed him a rag to wipe his feet. "_Like it would really make a difference, when I leave I'll just get them all sloppy again."_

A guy who looked like he was the foreman of the project, looked up at Danny and then turned back to the set of plans on the table that he was hovering over.

Paul introduced himself and before Danny could speak, "You must be the new attorney from the investment office. I'm Paul Garner." He sounded pleasant for a half a moment.

That moment was short lived when Danny said, "Actually I'm Special Agent Danny Taylor from the FBI in New York City." He showed his ID and badge, "I wanted to let you know I was in town investigating the disappearance of Kerri Rowan. Do you know …"

"You blame FBI agents are back in town are you!" he growled.

Danny wondered, "_Is this guy bi-polar or something?"_

"I really don't need any FBI people poking around either." He roared.

"I'll be right back," the sheriff contractor said tersely.

Danny stood there and watched as the man stomped out of the trailer.

A few moments passed and suddenly he saw the sheriff get into a truck and slide away out of the driveway.

He turned to the foreman who was also staring out the window shaking his head and asked, "Where could I find out the address of a Sallie Rowan? She lives in town."

The foreman looked at Danny and said, "I'm from outta town. You might try the Post Office. If anyone could help you with an address, they could"

Before Danny drove away, he took a moment to scribble a few notes in his field book, and though

_Paul Garner seemed pretty suspicious at the mention of Kerri Rowan's name and disappearance._


	12. The Post Office

- Post Office -

It was closing in on noon when Danny pulled up the post office. The building was unlocked but there was no sign of the Post Master. In the main building the service booth was kept unlocked only when the Post Master was in the building.

He headed back to Cargonias for a homemade burger and fries. He hadn't had one for a long. It reminded him of when he would visit his grandparents as a child and they would take him to what they called the "ol greasy spoon".

He chose a seat by the window so he could see when the Post Master showed up.

Heidi, another waitress, took his order.

While he waited for his meal he tried Martin again. He hit the send button and scrolled through the numbers until he found Martin's and hit the send button again. The phone rang four times until his voicemail came on. Danny hung up. He thought of Martin's phone, "H_e always has his cell phone with him and on. He has those funky Star Trek computer sounds when it rings."_

The food was excellent.

When Heidi came to clear the table and leave the ticket, Danny asked, "Is Gina ok? She seemed pretty upset earlier."

"She's just had a lot going on, I guess. She has been hanging out a lot with Kevin Davidson. I think they might be dating"

"Kevin Davidson?"

"I guess you wouldn't know since you aren't from around here. Kevin and Kerri Rowan dated since Junior High. They did everything together. When Kerri moved to the big city, they broke up. It wasn't nasty or anything. She just needed to move on. When she comes back to town they always visit and stuff like that, but just not like it used to be."

"Here lately Gina and him have been doing a lot of hanging out together. Don't you thing it's kind of odd for Kerri's best friend to be seeing her ex? A couple of days ago they went on a trip together and ever since they got back, she has always seemed to come in to work feeling all sick in the mornings."

"_Hmm. I really need to check that out. It could be a lead."_

He saw that the Post Master had returned.

"Thanks Heidi", he said. She finished clearing the table; he left a tip, and paid at the counter.

After walking across the street, introduced himself, showed his badge yet another time and asked if he could get Mrs. Rowan's address.

The postal lady gave Danny some information. "Mrs. Sallie Rowan lives west of town on Roxbury Road about six houses south of Stevens Crossing. It's pretty new, there are a lot of new homes out there. It's the biggest though. Very pretty home. Anyway the address is 3914 South Roxbury. It's the Brick house back off the road with a duck pond in the front yard, You shouldn't have any problem getting up to the house. Oh another thing, it's the only one that already has the driveway paved."

Danny took out his logbook and jotted down a few notes.

After the lady had gotten into her mail truck, she said she was running behind and still had many stops to make.

As she started to drive away she said, "It's such a large house for a widow. It's so sad about what happened first to her husband now her daughter."


	13. Power Trip

- Power Trip -

There were always two guards on duty on each eight hour shift.

There was an attractive guard with mocha skin, who was pretty strict on making everyone follow the rules. She was always singing and if you followed the rules, she was cool.

There was one particular blonde guard who would have looked more in place posing in the latest creations on a fashion show runway. When she walked into the dayroom for her shift, it seemed the whole place would go silent.

He was surprised that some of the guards would match the filthy language used by most of the prisoners. Some words he swore were made up. Even a couple of the female guards used the same language bad enough to make a drunken sailor blush.

Most of the guards were pretty decent. Some would sit at the tables and chat about cars and various other things. There was a newspaper delivered everyday. With permission, the prisoners were allowed to read it.

Things were going pretty orderly at the moment.

Crowbar and Deadman sat across from a table from each other from each other working on the crossword puzzle. They used a pen that the guards loaned out from their station. It was about four inches long, made from flexible plastic, and about half the circumference of a normal pen. Deadman thought.

"_Probably a good idea so it wouldn't end up stuck in someone's neck._

Deadman read the clue for 12 down, "A seven letter word for, murder."

As he read, the belligerent guard that had frisked Deadman when he first arrived, spoke from behind, "Deadman you should know that one", knowing it would yank his chain.

Deadman had learned that the guards name was Jessie. One of the other prisoners had gone to school and related that the guy had been a real bully when he was in high school. He always was puffed up with pride and telling everyone how great he was.

Crowbar started laughing. This made Deadman very uneasy, especially since he had really relied on Crowbar for instruction on what to do in the jail.

Deadman half stood up and said to the guard, "You know you have done nothing but picked on everyone in here every shift you work. You need to shut up, you little …"

"Sit down sweetheart." He didn't touch him since there were surveillance cameras monitoring every inch of the dayroom.

Deadman's lips pursed together. His face was flush. As he was filled with anger, he wanted to take out the guard, but knew better. He didn't want to be in any more trouble.

Jessie had a smirk on his face because now he got to show his power. He pointed to his name ID and snapped, "You recognize this you punk? You better watch yourself … I'm gonna be watching you."

He snatched the paper away and strutted away like a banni rooster, looking back over his shoulder with the same smirk on his face.

Crowbar was just as bad, cackling like a chicken. It was then that he reflected on Murf's words and decided that he really didn't like Crowbar.


	14. Line Please

- Line Please -

It had started raining again, harder than before so Danny went back to the café and take care of a few things. He grabbed his laptop. It had been an interesting morning. The clouds were dark and gloomy and lightning slashed across the sky accompanied by a thunderous roar.

He sat down at the same table that he had eaten at just a few moments ago. He plugged in the laptop, hooked up a mouse since he really didn't like the _Synaptics_ Touch Pad. He logged in to the FBI laptop but first had to check in his wallet to make sure he had the correct password. The FBI's policy was to have everyone change their passwords every 30 days for security. It was a real pain.

After the machine had powered up, a window popped up saying, "Wireless Connection Found". He entered the password for the day that he had obtained from the old woman at the front counter. He sent a brief e-mail to Vivian filling her in on what he had been up to.

He hadn't meant to, but he started a quick game of solitaire. He got bored and besides it was still storming badly outside. He ordered a coke and logged into one of his favorite sites, looked out the window after reading awhile and saw that the rain had let up. He had been totally absorbed in a story that was written about the characters of _Lost._ He bookmarked the page, ran through the shutdown sequence, and placed the laptop in its case. He dropped a couple bucks on the counter and nodded to the counter lady and left. She gave him a smile and wink since she was busy seating a young couple.

In the car he once again dialed Martins number. Still no answer.

After driving west on Main Street and taking a left onto Roxbury Road, he drove south until he intersected with Stevens Creek. A short distance behind him, he saw headlights.

The house was not hard to find. Sure enough it had the pond out front and a paved driveway with solar lights paralleling the pavement. "_I'm surprised that they don't have a patrolled border fence around the place." _The house was a two story structure with a walk around porch. The roof on the porch was high with white pillars. It reminded him of one of the old plantation houses down south.

When he pulled off the road he stopped for a moment and saw a police car pass him. Moving slowly up the driveway, he noticed an old garage that seemed slightly out of place compared with the luxuriousness of the rest of the place. Instead of having the standard overhead garage door like the attached garage, it had side by side doors_. "It must have been from some farmhouse that had long faded long away."_ As he turned onto the circle drive out front, his headlights reflected something from the garage. Looking that way he saw that Mrs. Rowan had a Honda SUV just like Martin's. He guessed they were getting pretty popular. It was dusk so he really couldn't tell the color.

He knocked on the front door and was greeted immediately by Mrs. Rowan. It was as if she had been waiting for him. As he stood there he noted that she was looking out into the night as if she were looking for something. She looked in the direction of the garage.

Danny stepped into the home following an invitation and tried to shake the rain from his shoes.

"Can I help you." Mrs. Rowan sounded very tired and very sad.

"Hi ma'am, I'm FBI Special Agent Danny Taylor. I wanted to ask you a few questions about the disappearance of your daughter, Kerri."

She sighed and invited, "Please come in and sit down."

Danny glanced around the room. There was nothing out of the normal. He noted Oak shelves lining three high walls filled with books. There were also pictures of Kerri, and a man that was pictured often with her and her mother. Danny was sure this was her husband. Every piece of furniture was the real deal, unlike some of his veneered stuff back home.

Danny started to ask, "Mrs. Rowan -"

"Please call me Sallie."

"OK, Sallie, can you tell me anything about the disappearance of your daughter?" "_Might as well cut right to the chase."_

She started to tear up a bit, sniffled and said, "Well … she lives in New York but I haven't seen her for a month or so. We've always been really close. After her father drowned in Colorado, I guess she just needed to get away. It's been about two years, That's why she moved away."

Danny handed her a Kleenex from the end table next to him.

"I am sorry to hear about your husband Sallie. What kind of work did your husband do? Just curious; your home is very nice.""

Not sure really why he was asking the question, she answered slowly as if thinking carefully about her answer, "He was an investor. He always was pretty well off due to money left behind from his father. Out of the need for something to do, he started his own company."

"What kind of Investment Company?"

"New house Construction."

Danny nodded, "Around here?"

"Yes."

"And do you work?

"Yes, I'm the librarian."

"_Interesting".._

Danny, steering the conversation back to Kerri, asked, "Do you know about Kerri's whereabouts for the last couple of weeks? I mean if you were close, she probably would have let you know, right?"

She started tearing up again, "I know she was going to Al… going away on a vacation with a couple of friends. It gets kind of lonely around here without them. I've thought about selling the place a time or two."

"Do you know where they were going?"

"No, not really."

"Do you know who the friends were? I need as much information as possible to try to find your daughter."

Sallie took a deep breath and said, "You might check with her ex-boyfriend Kevin Davidson. He lives in town in a block apartment on Prospect. It's bordered with roads on all four sides. Listen, I'm not feeling very well."

"If you can give me the address, I'll be on my way."

She wrote down the address for him and handed him a note.

"Are you sure that you don't have any other information?"

"I'm sure, that's all I can give you."

"Take care Sallie, I'll see you again sometime. Hope you get to feeling better."

Danny went back out to the SUV and sat for a moment or two writing in his field book. As he looked up he saw the curtain falling back into place. Mrs. Rowan had been watching him. Or watching something He glanced in his rearview mirror he swore he saw the same police car drive by. It was going the same direction as before like it had circled the mile section.

He looked at the shed again and then headed toward the road and thought to himself, "_It seemed almost like her answers straight from a book. What are you hiding Sallie Rowan the librarian?"_

He drove to the motel for the night.


	15. Character

- Character -

The chief pulled Danny over for showing up on the construction site. The chief had got out of his car and Danny had done the same. The chief lunged at Danny with a tire iron. Danny ran as fast as he could into the woods and when he stopped to catch his breath, the chief was there with a shotgun. As the chief raised the gun, Danny tried to un-holster his gun but it wouldn't budge. He turned to run again but found himself facing a small lake. He turned back to face fate and then woke up in a cold sweat. He had been tossing and turning all night long. The bed was hard causing him to have disturbing dreams all night long. "_That's the last time I'm gonna eat jalapeños before bedtime."_

While he was taking a hot shower, he could smell the brewing coffee from the small coffee pot in his room.

Outside the rain had stopped, but the dark clouds still told him that rain might be in the forecast. " _I can probably predict the weather as well at a meteorologist just by looking up at the sky."_

After driving over to Ever Falls again, he ate a big breakfast at Cargonias'. Sausage, eggs, over easy, hash browns with a short stack of pancakes on the side, a small glass of orange juice and another cup of coffee.

He remembered the building that was surrounded by streets on all four sides. He'd passed it the day before. It was an interesting structure which was two stories high. He saw Gina pull up front and head to the door at the top of a flight of iron stairs on the side of the structure. She knocked and a young man who looked to be about the same age, opened the door, spoke to her and let her in. They really didn't notice him below in the SUV. "_Well she didn't have a key to the place so I don't think that their relationship's of the serious kind, plus the fact that they didn't kiss or hug. But then again, no one knows what goes on behind closed doors."_

Danny parked the vehicle in front and as he made his way to the side stairs. Above the front door, sunken into the concrete header above the door, he saw the words "Danner Drugs" and also the year 1869.

After knocking, he introduced himself to Kevin Davidson and showed his badge and ID again and asked if he could come in. Kevin acted like he was caught off guard and looked back into the apartment. As Danny walked in he saw Gina sitting up on the couch where she had been laying down. Her hair was messed up.

"_Maybe she is another statistic after all."_

The apartment was awesome. Brick interior walls, polished wood floor complete with various stains that produced warm character. Lights hung down from the ceiling that seemed to be at least 15 feet high. It was obvious that the room had once upon a time been divided into separate rooms. Being above the ols drug store, it was perhaps a Doctor of Dentist office. The windows were large and round at the top. This really had character.

He was pulled from his thoughts when Kevin smiled and said, "Can I interest you in a cup of java? I was just brewing up a pot in the kitchen."

Danny answered; being caffeine charged for the day, "No, I'm good. Thanks. Hi Gina."

Kevin piped up, "Gina told me about you."

"I wanted to talk to you about the disappearance of Kerri Rowan. I understand that you used to date Kerri"

"Yeah, I thought we were really in love."

"_What a thing to say in front of your girlfriend."_

Kevin continued, "We sort of grew up together. We were an item through Junior High and High School. Unfortunately, we broke up about a year ago when she moved to New York. She said that she needed to get out of town for awhile after her father died."

"Are you the one that reported her missing?"

While pouring a cup of coffee for Gina and himself, he answered "yes, me and Gina".

"Really?" said Danny stretching out the word. It demanded that he be told more.

Gina explained, "We'd gone into Albany to meet Kerri for a little R & R. She was meeting us there and was going to catch a ride from a new friend that she met in New York. She said something about possibly going on a romantic trip with the guy, but she didn't say where he was headed, plus I thought she was kidding."

Danny, making a note in his field book asked, "Do you know anything about the guy?"

"No. I called her when she was about halfway to Albany and she acted just fine. I had gotten a call from my family from the hospital, so we wanted to visit my grandpa."

Her eyes started to tear up a little bit. "My grandfather's cancer has taken a turn for the worse." She started crying more and had trouble forming her words.

Kevin moved over to Gina and held her close.

"I am so sorry to hear that" Danny said with earnest concern.

Kevin took over where Gina left off, "He is the third closest family member to be hit with cancer during the last year. Me and Kerri have tried to give her all the support we could."

"So you and Kerri stayed in touch?"

"We've stayed close." Getting back to the subject, "We got the call and were headed to the hospital. We asked Kerri to meet us at a nearby Starbucks. When we arrived, she wasn't there. We thought that she might have gone ahead and taken the trip with the guy, but after talking to her mother, we knew she didn't. She would have let her mother know."

Danny had to clear up his curiosity about this being some kind of lover's triangle or not. "Sorry I have to ask, but just what is your relationship with Gina?"

Kevin got a fierce look on his face and said, "Look, everybody thinks were an item. We're just good friends. Gina has been really stressed about her grandfather, and the disappearance of Kerri. She often feels sick in the morning so she has an open invitation to come over here anytime she needs too. She's missed way too much work. To add to all her trouble, she's loosing her apartment. At this point, like I said, we're just good friends, nothing more"

By then, Gina's tears had increased to the flow of water from a faucet.

Danny sensed it was time he left so he rose without a word, nodded his head to Kevin, then in the Gina's direction."

"Thanks guys. Gina, hope things go better for you."

As Danny closed the door behind himself, "_Things go better for you. What kind of thing was that to say? Oh well. In that situation, I couldn't think of anything else to say._

In his vehicle, Danny made a few more notes in his field book.


	16. The Badge, The Liar

- The Badge, The Liar -

As Danny drove around town, he found himself in front of police headquarters again. The police car was parked next to a truck sporting the graphics of Garner Contractors. He noted that the car had moved down a couple spaces from where it was the last time he was there.

As Danny walked into the office, he heard the sound of something grinding away and thus took the chief by surprise. He was pretty sure that the chief was up to no good.

The chief came out of his office, and jumped what seemed like a foot. "What do you want now?"

"Looks like you're cleaning house." Danny commented to try to ease the chief just a little bit.

The chief moved over to a paper shredder and turned the switch off.

"I still need to ask you a few questions."

"You're wasting my time and yours. I have places to be."

"What do you know about the disappearance of Kerri Rowan?"

"Not a thing."

"_He's lying … he knows something."_

Moving to another topic, Danny said, "Yesterday when I was out at Mrs. Rowan's house, I thought that I saw a police car drive by a couple of times."

"What about it! Look, is it unusual for the police department to patrol the town?"

Danny decided to jab and see what the chief would do. "So you don't know anything about the disappearance but you patrol the edge of the town?"

The chief snapped, "You know what? I don't know why you're poking around here. Just butt out and let me run my office. You know what, we're done!"

The chief turned, went to his office, slammed the door, and plopped down in his chair facing the other direction.

Danny stood there for a moment, trying to think of something to say. He turned towards the door to leave but then stopped. While the chief had been ranting, he had noticed that the pile of faxes had been removed.


	17. Breakthrough

Breakthrough –

It was noon when Danny entered the café. He was becoming a regular and sat at his regular spot. He selected fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy.

After he finished, he headed out to his vehicle, took out his cell phone and called Vivian.

"Hello."

"Hi Vivian, have you heard anything from Martin? I've been calling him but can't get him. It isn't like him to not answer his phone. He always has it with him."

"When Samantha went to feed his cat, she heard his phone ringing from a suit coat pocket, on the back of his couch. The phone log said he had 23 missed calls."

"Any idea how things are going for him in Corpus?"

"We got a call from the condo and they said he never arrived. It doesn't make sense; I mean he's been so excited about this vacation for a month"

"You're kidding me, right Viv.?"

"I'm afraid not."

"So now instead of one missing person case, we are faced with two and one is our of our own."

"Danny, you let us focus on Martin and you focus on the Rowan case. The thing with Martin is probably nothing."

"Is FLAP back on line yet?"

"Not yet. We did receive something, though, that may help you. Do you have your laptop with you?"

Looking in the back seat he responded, "I left it in the motel."

"You guys." referring to both himself and Martin for leaving things in places other than where they needed them. "Get your computer. I'm sending you a video."

"Thanks Viv," Then he hung up.

He started the 45 minute drive back to East Dubor.

After driving and wondering where Martin had disappeared to, he arrived at the motel.

He switched on his laptop and entered the motel's wireless code.

After logging into his e-mail, he sifted through until he found an email from Sam. The subject said, "Video from Vivian". This was it. He opened it. It had an attached compressed file that contained a video named "Starbucks surveillance".

The file downloaded and he opened the file with _InterVideo WinDVD Media_ player. It was good for a quick look. He liked this software because he could speed up and slow down the video. As he watched it was apparent that the video was shot from a camera over the door. He sped up the movie and finally came to something that looked familiar and slowed it back to normal speed.

He saw Sallie Rowan and an older guy who was tanned and had striking blue eyes. They had stopped well in view of the camera and appeared to look around a bit. They went back to a booth in a corner that was secluded from the rest of the tables. They sat and a waitress came and went several times, unlike you middle-class Starbucks, where you got your own coffee by walking on two feet.

"_This place must really take in the bucks from the looks of the super high quality video."_

After a couple of minutes, Kerri Rowan walked in and for a moment, Danny thought she was going to meet Sallie and her companion. Instead Kerri and a man were seated right around the corner from her mom. "_They didn't even appear to know the other was there." _He couldn't get a good look at the man because some customers had stepped right in view of the man as he sat down with his back to the camera.

They were there about 5 minute when Kerri turned and looked in the direction of where her mother was sitting. An alarmed look was on her face as turned back, leaned forward over the table and she said something to her friend. They quickly rose and moved to the door. He could not see him clearly when they departed. They barreled to the door, through a group of hospital workers, and made their way to the exit. Behind them in tow was the man holding Sallie by the arm. From the look in her eyes, it hurt, as they followed Kerri and her friend.

The rest of the video was uneventful. A few people had looked in the direction of all the commotion, but soon went back to their world of coffee.

Danny watched the video three times and tried to take in all the details he could.

Right before he shut off the computer, a popup window informed him that he had just received another email from Samantha. Vivian had been in touch with the Albany forensics lab and they had identified the body of a young woman, Kerri Rowan. She was dead. Things sure took a lot longer without FLAP. He took a deep breath and put the laptop away.

He headed out the door packing the laptop under his arm.

He needed to be in Ever Falls now, and he had a forty five minute drive between here and there.

He got in his vehicle once again and started to drive, but had to wait until a kind old man helped his wife get out of her side of the car. _"That's something you really don't see a lot of any more." _

As he sat impatiently, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, he glanced toward the front door. In the newspaper dispenser, the headline read "Dead Woman Identified".

"_How did the newspaper find out so soon?_"

"_I guess Sallie Rowan already knows, or perhaps knew yesterday. They always notified the family first and even the newspapers respected that."_


	18. A Smelly Situation

A Smelly Situation –

Deadman tried his best to fit in, though he had the distinct feeling that he didn't belong here. He still had no idea who he was and it seemed that he had seen Crowbar before.

The flu outbreak was still going full steam. The guards pretty much tried to stay at their station and to not get too close to the prisoners.

A very sick Crowbar had been in and out of the infirmary, he had it bad.

The dayroom was pretty empty. This flu set in fast. Those that had it would have a series of severe pains and then feel pretty good as long as they took it easy on the food. Leaving the food alone was still not a problem for him. He still only ate as little as necessary.

In the rooms, there seemed to be a constant and never ending line to use the john. It got to where a person went when he could. And he went fast.

Deadman still felt that he was always being watched.

Since he felt no flu symptoms, he sat down in the day room with Murf, who also was well, and shared the daily newspaper. Murf was engrossed in the sports page. They were visiting about the Yankees, when Deadman suddenly became deathly silent as he looked at the front page.

Murf looked at him puzzled.

Murf reached over and tipped the page to see what he was looking at. On the front page, was the picture of a woman who was previously presumed missing. The headline read in bold black letters, "Dead Woman Identified" The first sentence disclosed that her name was … Kerri Rowan. Deadman gasped… the room started spinning.

As the memories returned to him, he wasn't sure if it was a good thing for him to remember or not. From his mouth in an almost whisper, "I … I know who I am."

Murf heard him and whispered back … "_shhh_" looking around, "See, things were not what they seemed."


	19. The Library

The Library –

As Danny drove the now familiar road back to Ever Falls, he took his phone and dialed Mrs. Rowan's home phone number a couple of times but only got the answering machine.

Entering the town, he headed straight for the library. As he passed the police building, he saw the Chief going to and from his police car. Instead of wearing the usual faded tee shirt and jeans, he was dressed in a full policeman uniform, gun and all.

The library was an older limestone building that looked as if it had stood the test of the changing of times. There were several posts, by the front walkway, that were once used to tie up horses. To the side you could see a covered well and a new gazebo.

Inside the heavy oak doors, was a huge room walled with dark walnut paneling. Matching shelves that reached almost to the ceiling, were perpendicular to the walls and formed a courtyard in the middle. This center open space was filled with walnut library tables with green reading lights. Opposite from the door was a limestone fireplace and a small horseshoe of leather reading chairs.

Mrs. Rowan was the only one still at the library. She was busy putting books back in their places after they had been returned.

"Sallie", he said to get her attention.

She saw him and said,"Hi Danny".

"I have something that I would like you to take a look at." Holding his computer up slightly.

She replied, "Let's go into the computer wing."

They walked and he followed her into a room that was hidden when you first entered the library. It was to one side and had been added. They took a seat next to a computer work station that was bare specifically for a laptop.

They watched the video from the part from where Kerri entered the Starbucks to the time Sallie left.

She was crying. "Danny, I'm scared!"

He grabbed her box of Kleenex from a nearby desk.

Sallie got up and quietly asked him to follow her.

She silently re-entered the main room and looked around to make sure they were the only ones there. It was empty.

She then walked to the front doors and locked them. Tears continued to fall from her eyes the whole time. They went back into the wing and she slumped down into the chair that she had left just a few moments ago.

"Sallie", he said gently, "who was the man with you?"

She explained.

"There was a man with Kerri. Do you have any idea who he was?"

She replied through sniffles, "I don't know what his name was, but I am pretty sure he was a friend that Kerri had met in New York City. She had mentioned him the last time I heard from her. Honestly I know you probably don't believe me. I don't know who the man was. I am scared Danny, I'm in danger."

"Sallie", he paused as if thinking carefully, "Kerri is dead."

Through a heavier burst of tears she cried, "I know".

After she had calmed down, she told him the whole story..

"_Where can she go where she will be safe?"_

He called Kevin Davidson.

Kevin and Gina would come to pick her up and she could stay with them until things were cleared up.

Danny still didn't know who the man was with Kerri.


	20. Rewind Replay

Rewind Replay –

Danny sat at the table of the Café again. He'd logged into his computer. He needed to take another closer look at the video.

This time he watched it with the Augment Video package, "Da Vinci". The $1900 software which had been designed specially for the FBI would let him stop at any frame and zoom in and enhance any marked portion.

He moved the program slider forward to the segment when Kerri walked into the coffee shop. He looked at the video three times and scoured the image for any sign of the identity of Kerri's friend. Not finding anything, he decided to let the program take over.

He selected a template called _facial recognition_. After backing up the video, he tagged the start and stop segments for the portion he wanted to examine. Clicking on _process, _"Da Vinci" played the video slowly, frame by frame, and a green scanner line flickered as it passed across each frame.

After the analysis was complete, a pop-up window said that there were 30 unique matches of reflections that originated from faces. He pressed a process filter and the video played once again with the addition of a red line from each reflection to its calculated point of origin. As the video played the red lines appeared and disappeared as people moved, tipped their heads, or were blocked from view.

It reminded him of a video game where all the red lines were laser fire.

"_Finally! The image he was waiting for."_

As Kerri and her friend stood from the table, a reflection line connected his face to a reflection from a stainless steel serving tray packed by a waiter. It was less than a quarter of a second. He drew a box around the reflection and clicked _Augment_. A blurry image started to clear and zoom in as it was augmented. His eyes opened wide in disbelief and he let out a gasp as he saw the face on the screen. _"I can't believe it!"_

Right before he shut down the laptop, an alert notified him that he had yet another email from Sam. It said that FLAP was finally back online and that he should take a look at the attachment. He opened it before reading the rest of the e-mail. The attachment was a mug shot of the same man he just saw on his computer monitor. It identified him as a John Doe. He quickly read the rest of the e-mail and everything started to fall into place. He knew he didn't have much time.

He programmed the GPS with the address from the report, for the fastest route to the Albany County Jail.

The chief's car was gone as Danny bolted out of town.


	21. Upper Cut

Upper Cut –

-Part I-

As the chief drove the last few miles to the County Jail, he went over in his head how everything was to happen. He had never transferred prisoners before. He sported a uniform that he had never used and he had never drove the police car so far during his stint as Chief of Police,

When Paul reached the jail, he pulled up to "Prisoner Receiving" outside. He parked and looked at his reflection in the mirror. _"Everything's going just fine."_

He walked over to the intercom by a door with a sign that said "Booking Desk" and pushed the buzzer.

A voice sounding much like what you would hear while ordering fast food said, "Can I help you?"

"Yes, I'm the Ever Falls Chief of Police, Paul Garner. I'm here to transfer a couple of prisoners."

There was a two minute pause. _"They're probably checking on it"._

The voice squawked again, "Pull your car into the loading bay"

The door opened and the chief drove in._ "Not bad."_

He got out of the car and walked through several locked doors. It was obvious the there were camera's watching his every move. The doors opened with a buzz and unlocked as he walked up to the booking desk. He handed a packet of transfer papers to a sergeant that was manning the desk.

He took the papers and examined them. They were for the transfer of Thomas Burrows and the latest John Doe. He wondered why a policeman from a small town was taking care of the transfer, but the paperwork looked legitimate. He picked up the phone and dialed someone deep in the bowels of the jail.

The process would take about 45 minutes. The chief was invited to set in a break area that was separated but, in view of a handful of inmates that had posted bail, and were awaiting rides home.

-Part 2-

Danny had been driving for a couple of hours and didn't even notice that he hadn't even turned on the radio.

He kept going over all the clues in his mind.

The phone rang. "Hello Vivian."

"Hi Danny."

Before she could speak another word, "Have you heard anything from Martin."

"No. I am collecting all the needed paperwork and will fax it to the jail ahead of you as soon as possible."

"Thanks Vivian."

They ended the conversation.

He had another hour until he reached the jail. He just hoped that he made it in time.

-Part 3-

Deadman laid in his bunk on his side, clearly able to see if anyone approached him. As far as he knew, Crowbar had no idea that his memory had returned to him. Crowbar was gone, having went to the infirmary again earlier in the evening.

They had already locked the mod rooms and everyone was settling in for the night. Through the glass he heard a muffled voice squawk over the intercom.

To his surprise, Power Trip Jessie's voice called over the intercom. "Deadman, your up. Collect your linens and get ready to go bye bye". As he hung up he could hear the guard's voice trail off, "You punk".

Deadman mumbled under his breath, "Jerk."

He went to work. He stuffed his pillow case with his sheets, towels and blankets as he'd seen others do when being released or moved.

The door buzzed and Deadman headed to the day room and several of the other prisoners said "Good Luck". He didn't know where he was going but was glad that it was anywhere but here.

Jessie told Deadman to have a seat and proceeded to fill out the final Mod report needed for his transfer. Jessie made no attempt to hurry.

-Part 4-

The chief had already made a trip to his car and loaded one prisoner. A guard stood nearby and kept a close watch.

Paul went back to the waiting room and hoped that the second prisoner's arrival wouldn't take too long. It was getting hard to hide his nervousness.

Finally, when the prisoner walked into the room with a transfer guard, the chief was handed paperwork and proceeded to cuff Deadman's hands behind his back. The chief was so nervous, he didn't notice when Deadman stretched out his arm so that he was being cuffed on his right _hand_ instead of his wrist.

This was a crucial mistake.

Deadman was lead to the car and placed behind the driver side, back seat. He was surprised when another prisoner, already strapped in, didn't even look when he got in. The other guy sat quietly looking out his window.

He was puzzled as to why the vehicle had no safety glass or protective screen separating the two seats. From the graphics on driver's door, in a small town, a barrier wasn't a concern. The hard plastic seat was going to be quite uncomfortable if his ride was to be of any length.

The car backed out of the now opened door and pulled onto the one-way street, circled the block onto a parallel street in the opposite direction, and headed to the Interstate.

Being out of the shadows, Deadman saw who the other prisoner was who now looked him straight in the eyes with a crooked grin.

Crowbar said with a heavy cough, "Hello Martin", and then he busted out in evil laughter.

Martin murmured under his breath "Crap".

A block later, Crowbar took a key that was concealed in his hand and then the chief passed Crowbar a handgun.

-Part 5-

Danny pulled up to the jail and ran up to the "Booking Desk" door and pressed the buzzer. He explained that he was a Federal Agent and why he was there.

After waiting for what seemed like five minutes, he was buzzed in.

Danny had his ID ready as he cut in front of a couple of people at the counter. This started a little uproar that quickly quieted down when the guards threatened to take them back to their mods.

"I have a fax for FBI special agent Danny Taylor," a guard called from an office behind the counter.

Danny took a quick look and then passed the fax to the sergeant.

"We just released Martin Fitzgerald aka John Doe.

"You're kidding?"

"I'm afraid not. He's being transferred by Paul Garner from …"

Danny cut him off. "I need help fast. I need a car."

The jail staff stood there dumbfounded like deer caught in headlights.

Danny slammed down his fist and shouted, "Now! A federal agent is in trouble."

-Part 6-

On the highway, the chief felt a little more at ease.

Crowbar, still coughing, held the gun on Martin.

The chief drove straight to a rest area that was a couple of miles out of town. They needed to ditch the car. The rest stop was located inside a circle of cedar trees, hidden from the highway.

The chief circled to the back of the building where there were two or three picnic tables. Around the back of brush pile, Martin could now see a concealed Honda SUV. _His SUV._

The chief opened the passenger side door for Crowbar since there were no handles on the inside. With little time to spare, he grabbed a set of his faded clothes from the trunk and ran to the building. It was obvious that he was going to change out of his uniform and conceal his clothing in the trash.

Martin, who had already worked his hand free of the cuffs, started to speak, "Crowb…"

"Shut up!"

Crowbar thought, "_Stupid Paul should have waited to use the can."_

As he started to get out of the car, he began coughing with great furry.

The chief was out of sight.

Crowbar winced in pain and grabbed his stomach in pain and puked out the open door. Martin moved quickly. He removed his seatbelt and kicked Crowbar out of the vehicle with so much force that the sick man hit the ground, rolled and the gun flew out of his hand.

Crowbar got up and turned. Just before belting him with a stiff uppercut, Martin said "You stupid idiot, haven't you ever heard of a flu shot?"

When the chief was walking back to the car, he saw that Crowbar had changed out of his green jumpers and now was wearing a ball cap. He'd had Martin do the same and had re-cuffed with his hands behind his back. They both stood strangely looking the other way.

As the chief walked up to them he was startled to see that Martin now had the gun on Crowbar. They had had changed places.

The chief tried to pull his weapon, now stuffed into the front of his jeans, but Martin was too fast. He had whirled around and swept his feet out from under him.

The chief was fortunate that the gun didn't discharge, which would have slimmed his chanced of ever having children. He took the gun from the chief and cuffed him.

Crowbar had dropped to his knees and was having a painful bout of dry heaves.

-Part 7-

Danny rode with a policewoman who drove with impressive skill. The radio informed them that a motorist had phoned in to report that there were three men next to a police cruiser. One was standing and holding a gun pointed at two others who were seated on the ground with handcuffs.

As they arrived, the area was swarmed with Police and Highway cars and a helicopter circled in the sky. Three men were cuffed and being loaded into a police cars.

Since the officers had no way of knowing who was who, they were all going to be taken to the jail until things could be sorted out. Danny, knowing this was standard procedure, ran up to the car with his badge held in front of him.

"Martin!" he yelled.

Martin looked and the officers paused for a minute.

"How was your trip to Corpus?"


	22. At Last

- At Last -

Martin sat, still wearing his green jumper, in an interrogation room back in the Albany County Jail. He sipped a very delicious cup of coffee. It had been awhile.

He understood why they were keeping him for a while. "_Things will be cleared up pretty soon." _

He really didn't have any ill will towards any of the guards. At least the ones that were decent.

It was close to an hour before Danny showed up at the jail to pick up Martin. Danny had spent a lot of time on his phone talking to Vivian. They were working through layers of red tape.

Danny stopped at the front desk and a female officer took him back into the depths of the facility.

When Danny entered the room, he busted out laughing, "What are ya trying to do Martin? Grow a Mohawk?"

As Martin stood and turned, he caught his reflection in the wall mirror in front of him. A smile quickly appeared on his face as he noticed his hair was sticking straight up in the middle.

Martin took Danny's hand and gave him a firm and generous handshake. They leaned their shoulders together and patted each other on the shoulders.

"Danny, I sure am glad to see you."

"Glad to see you too, Fitz."

"I just want to get out of here.

"Let's get you cleaned up and then we'll figure this all out."


	23. True Deadman

True Dead Man –

Martin and Danny sat sharing a table at small Mexican restaurant in Albany. A waitress brought them both water and had taken their orders.

Martin asked, "Can you please help me piece this all together in my mind? I haven't really had a chance to get all the details on what exactly happened and how Kerri ended up dead."

Danny replied, "Martin, lets start from the beginning. We have found out a lot of information that could help us to seal this case up. I'm still curious as to how you fit in. I mean, you were supposed to be in Corpus Christi. Let's start at the beginning. Just how did you happen to meet Kerri Rowan?"

Martin started to explain, "I met Kerri at a Barnes and Noble that's about 4 blocks from our office back in New York. I had walked down during lunch a couple of weeks ago. I was trying to find a travel book to help me plan my trip to Corpus Christi. I couldn't find them so I asked a cute little gal that worked there."

"Kerri?"

"Yes. She had gone there as a teenager and related what all she did when she was there. She was very intriguing so I sat with her during her break. We had coffee together and soon the conversation turned to other things. Thinking that I would like to see her sometime for dinner or a movie, I gave her my phone number. She was really special Danny; I really liked her a lot."

"I know buddy, I know."

Martin continued, "We saw each other for about a month after that."

"Why didn't you tell me anything about her?" Danny asked.

"I just didn't want you to tell me all the things about being careful and all the other crap. Like I said, she was really special so I wanted to see where things were headed before spilling the beans."

"Kerri knew I was headed to Corpus and catching a flight out of Albany since all the flights out of NYC had been booked. Kerri said that she was supposed to meet some friends over in Albany and had asked me for a ride. She would get a ride home from her mother. I picked up Kerri right after I left the office and showed you my new SUV."

"Were the friends Gina and Kevin?"

"Yes. Anyway about half way there Gina called Kerri. Gina's grandfather, who had taken a turn for the worse -"

"Cancer." Danny interjected.

Martin continued, "He was back in the hospital and they needed to visit him just in case … you know …"

"Sure, it's always good to say goodbye."

"Gina said to meet them at a nearby Starbucks that wasn't very far from the hospital. We drove straight there. After waiting for a while, Gina and Kevin never showed. We thought it must be something at the hospital. We had decided that Kerri could just take my SUV and then after I got back, she could pick me up at the airport. It would save her from having to get the ride from her mother."

Martin took a bite of taco, wiped his mouth and continued. "As we sat and chatted, Kerri heard the sound of her mother in the next booth around the corner. She was about to say hi but stopped and got a very alarmed look on her face. He mom had said something that really shocked her. She looked in her purse for her cell phone, but she had left it in the car. I couldn't help because I left mine at home."

She motioned to me to get up and put her finger on her mouth that told me she wanted me to be quiet and also put her hand to her ear and mouthed the words help. We got up quietly and made for the door to call for help. I didn't do anything because she didn't tell me anything. I never did find out either. About halfway to the door, either Kerri's mom or Crowbar saw us and they jumped up and pursued."

"Crowbar, aka Thomas Burrows, who has eluded authorities for years."

Martin said, "He looked so different all cleaned up."

He continued, "Crowbar had Kerri's mom in a tight grip by her arm. We ran to my Honda, parked next to the alley, when Crowbar steps out in front, now with a gun to Mrs. Burrows head. He motioned up to pull in the alley. We drove to the other end following him. I didn't have a choice. I got out and left my gun in the glove box."

Danny asked, "Why did you do that?"

"I had taken it off so I wouldn't be uncomfortable on the drive. I guess I forget to get it. We were talking as we arrived at the coffee shop."

Martin continued to explain," We got out of the vehicle as Crowbar said. He whispered something in Mrs. Rowan's ear and lunged at me. I knocked the gun from his hand. In the struggle, he had managed to pick up a pipe and swung it at me. I ducked. Kerri had moved up behind me to help. She never saw the bar as I ducked."

"She was probably dead before she hit the pavement. He hit her pretty hard."

"I was stunned, looking at her when Crowbar clobbered me. That was the last thing I sort of remember until I found myself sitting. I was all confused and -"

Danny jumped in. "According to Mrs. Rowan, Sallie, Crowbar had placed his hand over her mouth so she couldn't scream. They heard a noise like someone threw a can. Crowbar made her get in the SUV, wiped the pipe and put it in your hand and grabbed your badge and wallet. Kerri's purse was found in the SUV as well. Sallie thought you were both dead."

Danny continued. "She cried the whole time as Crowbar drove her home and hid the vehicle in her garage. He used the phone and told Sallie to not say a word or he would do all sorts of nasty stuff to her. Crowbar walked to the end of the driveway and was picked up by someone. Sallie couldn't see who. We found out it was the chief."

Danny said, "When Kerri didn't meet up with Gina and Kevin, they thought that she might have gone to Corpus with you. A short time later after talking to Sallie, they reported Kerri as missing. After pausing a moment or two, Danny asked, "Are you doing ok Martin?"

"Yea. I don't understand how Mrs. Rowan got mixed up with Crowbar?"

"Her husband, John David Rowan worked for Opulent Financial Group, the big investment bank located in Houston. He worked his way up the ladder until he became the top executive of the Oil Investment branch. Let's just say he was squeaky honest and did very well. When Kerri was old enough to go to grade school, John relocated to Ever Falls. He telecommuted for a couple of years before taking an early retirement."

Continuing, Danny said, "Really, he was set for life. I guess he got bored. He started a small Investment company that he ran from his home. It was new house construction."

Martin looked confused and had to ask, "What does that have to do with Crowbar?"

"Be patient, my dear Martin." Danny sounded like Sherlock Holmes.

Danny explained, "One of his clients was Garner Construction. Paul was in deep and needed help to pay off his loans. He was getting the needed help from Mr. Rowan's company."

Danny ate a couple of bites of rice and beans and then continued while still chewing. "With Rowan working all the time, he and Sallie's relationship had soured a bit. You know, counseling and all that stuff. They really loved each other and needed to reconnect. They traveled to Colorado to do a little backpacking, and fishing. They hiked back deep into the wilderness of Rocky Mountain National Park and set up camp by a little secluded lake."

"Sounds like a nice place for a little one on one."

"About three days into their escape, a lone hiker came upon to their camp."

Martin guessed, "Crowbar?"

"You guessed right. This guy is slick as a snake. Despite Sallie's objections, during the next couple of days Crowbar had convinced John that he was interested in a partnership." In an argument with his wife, she pushed him by accident and he fell and cracked his head open on some rocks, dead. Crowbar convinced Sallie that she would be in big time trouble if anyone found out. He dumped the body in the lake and prompted Sallie to hike out and report John's death with a story he concocted. He then started extorting large amounts of money."

"Ok so that explains the relationship between him and Sallie. What about the chief?"

"At the time of John's death, which was disguised as a missing person, Crowbar contacted Paul, who operated Garner Construction. He threatened that he would pull the investment in his company. The office of Police Chief opened, Paul stepped into a job he never wanted and used the office to cover up his own problems. Crowbar was good. I guess the thing sort of evolved into a partnership."

Martin interupted, "Ok, back up to the part where you were telling me about the night Kerri was killed."

"He was in the Starbucks threatening that he wanted something romantic with Mrs. Rowan."

"That must have been what Kerri heard."

"After he left you for dead and hiding your SUV, he hitched a ride back to Albany. There he was arrested in a bar brawl for hitting a guy over the head with a pool stick. He was locked up under charges of Aggravated Battery. That's where he met up with you. He knew you were an FBI agent from your ID."

Martin added, "And as long as I didn't remember… that's why he kept such a close eye on me. A nice little fellow named Murf somehow knew. He told me to watch out. Who was he?"

"He's supposed to be released later this month. He said he heard Crowbar on the phone, probably talking to the chief."

"When I saw the surveillance tape from the Starbucks, I figured out you were the John Doe in jail."

"What about Mr. Rowan?"

"Agents in Colorado found the body and after examination, Mrs. Rowan has been cleared of all charges. It would appear that there are others out there involved in this whole ordeal. There are rumors that he might talk if he isn't extradited to Colorado where they _have_ the death penalty.

"Deadman." Martin said under his breath.

"What?"

"Oh nothing", Martin paused. "I sure wish you'd have met Kerri."

"Me too."


	24. Epilogue

- Epilogue -

Danny sat in the driver's seat of Martins new SUV. They were ready to head for home. Planning to take a scenic route out of town, Danny had his GPS secured to the dash.

Martin said, "I said you could have a ride in my new ride, not drive it!"

Danny said jokingly, "Mawtin want to dwive. Ahhh, po baby!"

Martin looked at Danny for a second or two and Danny said, "What?"

As they turned the corner, Martin saw a man he knew coming out of a grocery store holding a couple of sacks.

Martin pointed and said, "Hey Danny, quick, pull over alongside that guy."

Danny didn't ask. He pulled up parallel to the front of the store right in front of a guy talking to an attractive young woman.

"Sit tight Danny."

Martin quickly hopped out of his SUV before it had come to a complete stop, leaving the door open, and approached the man.

Martin said, "Hey, sweetheart."

The guy looked in the direction of the voice. Recognizing Martin, he started to say something.

Martin was decked out in his dark blue suit and red tie. He reached into the breast pocket, intentionally brushing against his holstered gun, and pulled out his FBI badge.

As he flashed it he said, "You know what this is you punk? You better watch yourself … I'll be watching you!"

Power trip Jessie's jaw nearly hit the ground. Martin adjusted his tie and neck with a crackle.

He got back into the SUV.

Slowly driving away, Martin looked at Danny and said, "What?"

A block later they both busted out in laughter.


End file.
